Comb for holding a toupee

ABSTRACT

A comb for holding or fastening a toupee is formed of a thin sheet of metal in arc form having teeth separated by very narrow slots.

United States Patent Lee 1 Jan. 18, 1972 [54] COMB FOR HQLDING A TOUPEE 842,524 1/1907 Cartwright ..132 144 844,785 2/1907 Edwards ....132/l01 1 lnvenwfl William Lee; 398 Warwwk w 928,485 7/1909 West ..132/101 Mount Vernon, N.Y. 10553 Prima ExaminerAntonio F. Guida I 8 97 W [22] Flled June 1 l 0 Assistant Examiner-Greg0ry E. McNeil! [21] Appl. No.: 47,316 Attorney-Arnold G. Gulko 52 us. Cl ..l32/46 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. ..A45d 8/00 A comb for holding or fastening a toupee is formed of a thin Field of Search sheet of metal in arc form having teeth separated by very nar- 132/11, 144, 140, 142, 160, 7; D86/3, 10 row slots.

[ 5 References Ci d 7 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1904 Gordon ..132/101 PMENIFQDJAMIWW 3,635,227

INVENTOR. WILL/HM H. A55

ATTORNEY COMB FOR HOLDING A TOUPEE The present invention relates to a special comb specially adapted to grasp the hairs at the side of the head closely adjacent the scalp in order to provide a fastening point for the securement of a toupee. The comb is easily used so that the wearer of the toupee can use it himself to adjust the fit of the toupee from time to time as is known to be necessary.

At the present time a toupee is secured to the scalp by knotting the side hair in six places to fastening posts, to which the toupee is secured by hooks. The disadvantage of this method is that as the hair grows out the posts have to be reknotted closer to the scalp by a technician. The difficulty of clamping or otherwise fastening an anchoring point to hair has defied all methods except knotting. The diameter of hair measures 2% to 4 thousandths of an inch. In this invention, a small comb made from thin metal sheet having a thickness of 0.020 to 0.035 inch, e.g., from 0.032 inch stainless steel sheet is stamped in the shape of an arc with forwardly pointing teeth separated by subsequently fonned narrow slots tapering from 0.004 inch 10.001 inch at the large open end thereof to 0.002 inch to 0.003 inch at the smaller closed end. This comb, when combed into the hair, wedges individual hairs into the slots and holds them securely. While more than one hair may become lodged in a single slot, these hairs would lie in a row with the hair at the bottom of the slot being the one most securely grasped. There must be no sharp edges to cut the hair, and this means that the slot must be smooth and regular.

There is no way to stamp a slot having these dimensions. However, the required slot can be cut to the size and smoothness needed by electrical discharge machining after the main outline of the comb is stamped and tumbled to remove all sharp edges. A comb of this type can be anchored and removed by the wearer himself and therefore one needs no technician for periodic adjustment. While a metal comb is preferred, the same comb structure can be molded of plastic.

Referring to the drawing, the single FIGURE shows, on a greatly enlarged scale, a comb in accordance with the invention. This comb identified by numeral is made from stainless steel 32 thousandths of an inch in thickness. The back of the comb is arc-shaped as shown at 11, the back 1 l terminating in lobes 12 at the front of the comb, each lobe carrying an anchoring means 13 here constituted by a hole or aperture into which the hooks of the toupee are lodged. The comb 10 includes forwardly pointing teeth 14 which are positioned between the lobes l2 rearwardly of the anchoring means 13. The teeth 14 are separated by parallel slots l5 which preferably are 0.004 inch at their open end and 0.002 inch at their rearward closed end. The forward ends of the teeth 14 form an arc generally paralleling the are of the comb.

The comb is inserted using a small handle with a clamp at its forward end, the clamp grasping the rear 11 of the comb. The clamp is released after the comb is inserted at the side of the head with the teeth facing upwardly and with the comb being flat alongside the scalp and concealed by the natural hair. About six combs are needed, two at each side and two at the rear to hold an ordinary toupee.

The overall size of the comb, measured between the two anchoring posts 13 is less than I inch, typically 5/8-7/8 inch. Usually, the comb would include from six to eight teeth.

The invention is defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A comb for holding a toupee constituted by a thin areshaped sheet, the arc of said sheet forming the back of the comb and terminating in forwardly extending lobes, one at each side of the comb, anchoring means for said toupee carried by said lobes, a plurality of forwardly pointing teeth positioned between said lobes rearwardly of said anchoring means, said teeth being separated by narrow tapering slots, said slots being 0.004 inch $0.001 inch at the large open end thereof and being 0.002 inch to 0.003 inch at the smaller closed end thereof.

2. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said comb is made of a thin sheet of metal 0020-0035 thousandths of an inch in thickness.

3. A comb as recited in claim 2 m which said metal sheet is a sheet of stainless steel.

4. A comb as recited in claim 3 in which said sheet is about 0.032 thousandths of an inch in thickness.

5. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which the forward ends of said teeth define an are generally paralleling the arc of said comb.

6. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said slotsare paral' lel to one another.

7. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said comb measures from 5/8 to 7/8 inch between said anchoring means and the comb includes from six to eight teeth. 

1. A comb for holding a toupee constituted by a thin arc-shaped sheet, the arc of said sheet forming the back of the comb and terminating in forwardly extending lobes, one at each side of the comb, anchoring means for said toupee carried by said lobes, a plurality of forwardly pointing teeth positioned between said lobes rearwardly of said anchoring means, said teeth being separated by narrow tapering slots, said slots being 0.004 inch + OR - 0.001 inch at the large open end thereof and being 0.002 inch to 0.003 inch at the smaller closed end thereof.
 2. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said comb is made of a thin sheet of metal 0.020-0.035 thousandths of an inch in thickness.
 3. A comb as recited in claim 2 in which said metal sheet is a sheet of stainless steel.
 4. A comb as recited in claim 3 in which said sheet is about 0.032 thousandths of an inch in thickness.
 5. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which the forward ends of said teeth define an arc generally paralleling the arc of said comb.
 6. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said slots are parallel to one another.
 7. A comb as recited in claim 1 in which said comb measures from 5/8 to 7/8 inch between said anchoring means and the comb includes from six to eight teeth. 